Democrats in the Texas Legislature are staring at a Friday deadline for returning or facing consequences that Republicans say could include arrest or ouster from their statehouse seats.
The Democrats have fled the state to try to block action on Republicans’ plans to draw new U.S. House districts that could lasso more seats for the GOP in next year’s midterm elections.
Gov. Greg Abbott warned the Dems that they may have to remain out of the state for years, because he plans to call repeated special sessions until he gets it done.
“Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue,” the Republican governor told NBC News. “That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there.”
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers have left the state in what’s known as quorum breaking. If they aren’t present, the Legislature can’t act on the redistricting plans.
Republicans have responded with hardball tactics.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said if they haven’t returned by the end of this workweek, he would go to court to ask that they be declared as abandoning their offices, letting Republicans move ahead without them.
“Starting Friday, any rogue lawmakers refusing to return to the House will be held accountable for vacating their office,” the Republican attorney general said.
Not to be outdone, Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, who is facing a primary challenge from Mr. Paxton next year, said he has asked the FBI to be prepared to find the runaway lawmakers.
The Democratic lawmakers have fled to deep-blue states such as Illinois and California, where local Democrats are embracing them as heroes.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to host a press conference in Sacramento with some of the Texas Democrats on Friday to cheer them on.
Mr. Abbott has sued in the state Supreme Court, accusing state Rep. Gene Wu, leader of the House Democratic Caucus, of abandoning his seat. Mr. Wu is due to respond to the case on Friday.
In pursuing redistricting, Texas is following the lead of New York, where Democrats last year adopted a new map that netted them three seats in last year’s House elections.
That helped cut the GOP to a razor-thin majority in the House.
Now Democrats in New York and other blue states say they’ll re-retaliate against Texas by pursuing still more partisan redistricting efforts.
